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Mega Manectric-the new format?

This is my first article on 60cards, or any other Pokemon blog. I am actually just a senior, but for some reason I am unable to set my birthday to be legit. I know I should use the mega manectric blog header background, but the pikachu is cuter. Anyway, please read on and do enjoy the article.

Manectric ex in the new format

Mega Manectric ex is an extremely strong attacker, doing 110 damage for 2 energy and getting some energy acceleration. With a attack cost of only 1 lighting (Really? No one is going to comment that it's called "lighting energy" in the deckbuilder?) and 1 colorless energy makes it extremely versatile, possibly even more than Mew ex (haha. Sorry.) I made 2 decklists of Mega Manectric variants, and both have their pros and cons. Note that these decklists are by no means perfect and having other techs or the amounts of cards can improve these decks.

Energy (12)

Yveltal ex

Yveltal ex is probably the strongest attacker in the game. Even though it only does twenty more than lugia ex or the old mewtwo ex, how often have you lost that game because of that slight margin? Adding a muscle band increases the damage even further, and the baby Yveltal can be used early game for energy acceleration if you can't get the Mega Manectric out. Although it has a lightning weakness (other manectric/raichu decks), Shadow Circle is a useful stadium for countering this.

General Deck Strategy

This is a rather aggressive deck and generally wants to use battle compressor or ultra ball to get some energy into the discard before hitting with Mega Manectric early game, giving it some energy acceleration, and leaving it there until it gets knocked out or has low health. Then, AZ, super scoop up or simply using the free retreat and healing 30 every turn using rough seas allows Yveltal ex to go active and get some big one hit knockouts. Although Mega Manectric is weak to fighting types, and can be one hit with pokemon such as regirock(ancient origins), it is easy to counter using flash energy or the Yveltals, with a fighting resistance. The key to this deck is knowing when to stop using Mega Manectric and start using powerful Yveltal ex attackers to win the game.

Energy (13)

Kyurem ex

Kyurem ex might not seem like a very good card in most decks, but it has particularly good synergy with Manectric ex. Glaciate can knock out damaged benched Pokemon if you can't draw into Lysandre and Icecalibur, which will not normally be very good because of the energy discard, can be combined with Mega Manectric ex to just get the energy back. Stopping your opponent from attacking is rather strong, especially if your opponent's active has a high retreat cost or if he has no other viable attackers. In fact, I once lost a game to Dialga ex's chrono wind when it had 10 HP left, I had 2 prizes left, and I could not attack. It was more than a little bit annoying. 130 damage is basically able to knock out any non-ex, and since the drawback can easily be nullified by Turbo Bolt, it is definitely a good addition to this deck

Seismitoad ex

Most of us probably have experience playing this deck. After all, the old saying goes: you either die an anti-Seismitoad, or live long enough to see yourself play Seismitoad. This card, with its completely broken quaking punch attack, basically dominated the format last year. However, with the loss of techs such as garbodor and hypnotoxic laser, I can't see how a dedicated Seismitoad deck can still be competitive. However, tech it into a deck and it can still help greatly using its quaking punch to slow your opponent down or use grenade hammer for a burst of 130 damage for 3 energy, with the damage to the bench easily healed off by rough seas. This card also has good synergy with Mega Manectric, a single turbo bolt being enough to charge up a Seismitoad ex to attack with quaking punch. Sadly, the Seismitoad might drag on to the new format, which I am personally sad to see.

Regice

One word. Safeguard. With all those safeguard Pokemon leaving the standard format, most people might run a more dedicated ex deck. In fact, I was running a full ex deck until I saw this card. In the old format, some people simply conceded the moment they saw suicune or sigilyph. Just having this card might get you a few wins.

General deck strategy

Getting Mega Manectric out early is a good play for energy acceleration, but sometimes, after turbo bolting a few times, starting to quaking punch might be a good way to slowly build up damage on your opponent while shutting down their items. In Mega Manectric decks, it is sometimes difficult to get energy into your discard pile early, thus using Seismitoad to slow down your opponent can be a good play too. Kyurem ex and Regice are very strong late-game, where your opponent might not have the resources to be able to attack you, which is basically a guaranteed win.